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AB Literary and Cultural Studies
Course: Introduction to Literature and Literary Studies (Core Course) Topic: Food and Literature Theme: You Are What You Eat: Reading Class, Race, and Gender in N.V.M. Gonzalez’s “The Bread of Salt” Text: “The Bread of Salt” by N.V.M. Gonzalez, National Artist for Literature (Source: http://malacanang.gov.ph/75494-the-bread-of-salt-by-nvm-gonzalez/) Method: Online Learning: oral reading, discussion, reflection writing Prepared by: Antonette Talaue Arogo, De La Salle University Manila Objectives: By the end of the lesson, the students should have:
- Applied close reading in understanding the short story.
- Analyzed the short story using critical concepts from Marxism, Post-colonialism, and Feminism as interpretative lens.
- Reflected on the relation between text and context, or literature and society.
- Appreciated the role of literature in understanding oneself and one’s relation to others. Module for Online Session Activity Teacher’s Procedure or Behavior Student’s Tasks Online Tool Options What did you have for breakfast? By way of introduction to the short story, have students share what they had for breakfast, or what they usually have for breakfast. They can share orally or post a photo. The idea behind the activity is to help establish that pan de sal is a breakfast staple. In addition, this should incite reflection on how food changes over time, the way it is produced and consumed (e.g. food trends, such as Ube Cheese Pan de Sal), and in conjunction with economic developments. Take note of what you had or what you usually have for breakfast. You may share orally or take a photo. Give a brief commentary.
CANVAS;
Zoom; Blackboard; Google Classroom Oral reading of select passages/ Close reading of the short Begin the analysis of the poem by asking the students to read aloud select passages that generate thought on the way the Actively participate in the discussion. Contribute insights, drawing from previous knowledge as well as from the supplementary
CANVAS;
Zoom; Blackboard; Google Classroom
story elements of Fiction interact to produce meaning. See Answer Key/Critical Notes on the Text for the Discussion Guide. Use the Powerpoint Presentation as Discussion Guide. Discuss theoretical frameworks and critical concepts as are relevant to the passages that are being close read. materials provided as pre- discussion assignment. See Suggested References. Reflection writing/ Peer Review Form groups of two to three members each. The students will discuss and answer the following exercise. Does the short story reinforce and perpetuate or does it challenge classist ideology? Create a Discussions page in your online platform where students can post and read one another’s outputs. Each group will be required to post at least one (1) peer review. Submit your essay by posting it online. Read the outputs of your classmates and write your comments. You are required to post at least one (1) peer review.
CANVAS;
Zoom; Blackboard; Google Classroom Output:
- What did you have for breakfast?: Students will either share orally their breakfast staple or post a photo accompanied by a brief commentary.
- Participation in the Discussion: Students will read aloud select passages from the short story and articulate their insights and answers to questions raised.
- Reflection Writing/Peer Review: Students in pairs or triads will write an essay answering the exercise. They will review and comment on at least one output of their peers. Assessment: Reflection Writing: 4.0 to >2.0 pts (100>85) Exemplary-Satisfactory
b. There is a masculinist premise underlying the fact that it is the narrator’s task to bring home the bread, recalling notions of “bringing home the bacon” and “breadwinner.” This task will soon be given to his aunt’s maidservant. Is there a continuity of subject positions between the boy and the maidservant? Consider how both, the former as still a child and has yet to attain maturity and development and the latter a girl, are not considered “proper” subjects of society, of history, a position acknowledged to be held by the adult male in a patriarchal and colonial/imperial context. Relate to the colonial rhetoric of “little brown brothers,” the infantilizing gesture that is used to justify colonialism. c. Is it significant that the confection is not specified in the short story, that is, the boy does not know what it is called? What does this say about the protagonist? Explain why the protagonist was so humiliated or shamed by Aida discovering him stuffing the confection into his shirt, with the intention of bringing some home with him, that as he puts it: “I felt all ardor for her gone from me entirely.” Explore the meanings of “asalto.” Relate this scene to the one between the protagonist and his aunt when the latter said: “At parties, musicians always eat last.” Reference Thomas C. Foster’s discussion on eating as a symbol of communion and, conversely, failure of community in How to Read Literature Like a Professor (Quill, 2003). d. Discuss the epiphany in the short story. Interpret the lines: “Farther away glimmered the light from Grandmother’s window, calling me home” and “We found ourselves alone at the counter; and we watched the bakery assistants at work until our bodies grew warm from the oven across the door, it was not quite five, and the bread was not yet ready.” Compare and contrast the beginning and the ending of the text.
- Discuss key and intersectional concepts, namely, ideology, hegemony, and colourism. Race relations is another significant subject of the short story, represented by the characters (e.g., the relation between Don Esteban and the protagonist’s Grandfather, inherited by Aida and the protagonist) and mapped onto space. Pay close attention to the description of the house of the “old Spaniard” and how it functions as a synecdoche for colonialism/imperialism. The house is the center of the narrator’s world and to which his movements are tethered. The boy’s everyday life is ordered according to the house clock. Reference Pheng Cheah’s discussion on colonial temporality in What Is a World?: On Postcolonial Literature as World Literature (Duke University Press, 2016).
- Salt is a dominant imagery in the Bible. Read relevant passages from the Scriptures. Relate this to another relevant statement of Karl Marx: “Religion is…the opium of the people.” How does this contribute to the theme of the short story? From this, discuss the exercise. Suggested References Primary Text
“The Bread of Salt, by NVM Gonzalez.” Presidential Museum and Library, http://malacanang.gov.ph/75494-the-bread-of-salt-by-nvm-gonzalez/. Context (Biography, History) Gonzalez, N.V.M. Work on the Mountain. University of the Philippines Press, 1995. Orillos, Jenny B. “The Path of Pan de Sal.” GRID, https://gridmagazine.ph/story/the-path-of-pan- de-sal/. Critical Commentary Alburo, Erlinda K. “N.V.M. Gonzalez. The Father and the Maid: Essays on Filipino Life and Letters. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1991. 79p.: —. Kalutang: A Filipino in the World. Manila: Kalikasan Press, 1990. 79p.” Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society , vol. 19, no. 2, 1991, pp. 153–158. JSTOR , www.jstor.org/stable/29792050. De Jesus, Edilberto. “SELF-KNOWLEDGE AND N. V. M. GONZALEZ.” Philippine Studies , vol. 12, no. 1, 1964, pp. 167–171. JSTOR , www.jstor.org/stable/42718987. Theoretical Framework Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. 2 nd^ ed., Manchester University Press, 2002. Cheah, Pheng. What Is a World? On Postcolonial Literature as World Literature. Duke University Press, 2016. Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Literature Like a Professor. Quill, 2003. Grossberg, Lawrence, et. al. Cultural Studies. Routledge, 1992. Others: Worksheets, Quizzes, Powerpoint Presentation, Audio-Video aids, Additional Tasks See attached PP presentation.
